State laying off 85 at 3 agencies

State budget cuts will put 85 workers in three state agencies out of a job at the end of the long Thanksgiving weekend Sunday, the Blagojevich administration confirmed today.

Ryan Keith

State budget cuts will put 85 workers in three state agencies out of a job at the end of the long Thanksgiving weekend Sunday, the Blagojevich administration confirmed today.

Shortly after the announcement, the union representing many of the workers signaled the fight for those jobs isn’t over.

As of Sunday, 48 workers will be laid off at the Department of Human Services, 13 will be let go from the Department of Natural Resources, and 24 will be laid off at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Blagojevich spokeswoman Marcelyn Love said.

No employees will be laid off from the Department of Children and Family Services, which was supposed to take the biggest hit with 179 layoffs.

Originally, more than 320 state workers were targeted for layoffs at the end of November — including the closings of two dozen state parks and historic sites.

Lawmakers stepped in with extra money to try to spare the layoffs and closings. But late last week, the governor said he could not fully approve restoring the money to prevent those cuts because of slumping state revenues and a budget shortfall of $2 billion.

Now, seven of the 11 state parks will close. Two historic sites will stay open because of increased local funding and volunteers, but Springfield’s Dana-Thomas House is not among them.

Love said nearly 400 vacant jobs in state government were available to employees affected by the cuts, and some workers did take other jobs rather than being laid off. Workers were offered all varieties of job titles at different locations throughout the state, Love said.

“There are a variety of circumstances which have allowed a smaller number of people to be affected, which we’re certainly happy about that and tried to minimize the effects as much as possible,” Love said.

The administration could not provide specifics today on which workers within each agency are being laid off or their locations.

Love said no other layoffs are planned for now.

Ryan Keith can be reached at 217-788-1518 or ryan.keith@sj-r.com.

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